City of the Dead
by justgivemeanewusernameplease
Summary: Normally, Nico would have no problem solving a case given to him by the NYPD with the forensic expert, Ace. It is his job after all. But when he's forced to work with an actual Detective, things get a little bit harder. After all, its not like you can tell someone you can see and hear the dead. [Solangelo] rating might go up


He could feel them before he could see them.

Thin spindles of shadows detached from their main body, edging their way through the dark and towards the no longer sleeping figure hunched over an old wooden desk. They crawled up the wooden legs and rustled the scattered papers, pausing for a moment to meet the murky grey eye that watched them before continuing on their way. They wrapped themselves around his arms and chest, sinking into his skin with a painful burn, wrapping around the shadowy figure that was his soul. Tightening their grip, they pulled him from his body with a harsh tug, causing the ridged muscles to go limp once more. When he was free the shadows unwound themselves and started to slink back to their body, pausing only to wait for him to follow, enveloping him as soon as he was close enough and pulling him in with them.

He walked calmly through the dark static he had been pulled into, known as _Endiamesa_. The shadows stayed close to him, letting out strange hissing noises as the moaning cries of the dead sounded, getting muffled and lost in the static. He ignored it all and continued through _Endiamesa,_ finally stopping at a pair of large obsidian doors. He pushed them open effortlessly, stepping into the well furnished and well lit room with a scowl on his pale face.

"What do you want Father?" He demanded, crossing his arms as the doors slammed shut, blocking out the screams and cries of the long forgotten.

"I'm sorry to wake you Nico," the man that had been standing with his back turned to his guest was now walking over to him. His black robes billowed around him, coming to rest as he reached the shorter man. He rested one pale hand on his shoulder, and his face, that looked so alike to the man in front of him, was pulled into a tight frown. "I just wanted to give you a warning about the case you're getting tomorrow."

"What's to warn me about?" Nico asked, cocking his head slightly. It was a habit he had unwillingly picked up. "The only thing that's mildly distressing about it is that it's from the police."

This case was something that was fairly common for Nico. Being a Private Detective he looked into murders all the time, usually the ones that couldn't be explained. But this one had gotten to the police first, and since it was being broadcasted on the news, Nico knew how much more gruesome and unexplainable than what is normal for them. It was only a matter of time until the police, more specifically the NYPD, came to him for help.

"I know, but," The man faltered. "…This one isn't your usual Ghost or Ghoul Nico."

"Then what is it?" He challenged.

"…I don't know."

"Uh, huh." Nico rolled his eyes and started on his way back to the doors. "Well, call me when you have more of a warning." He pushed them open once more, and this time when the shadows took him, it wasn't a pleasant stroll. They pulled him through _Endiamesa _faster than humanly possible, making for a stomach churning feeling. When they emerged back into the living world, _Zo, _he was thrown into his body with such a painful burning that he always shrieked in pain, gasping for breath and covered in a cold sweat as his muscles launched into spasms. Since it had been one of his longer visits it hadn't been as painful, but Nico was still doubled over in pain for a few moments before he finally managed to recover. He picked himself up off his desk with shaky movements, wincing as the shrill ringing of his cell went off. He let it go for a few moments before snatching it off the desk and turning off the alarm. He sat for a few more moments, and when the last of the pain faded he stood, shoved his phone and wallet in his pocked, grabbed his aviator jacketed and motorcycle keys and then headed out the door.

The streets of New York were always busy, so Nico just wove in and out of the long lines of cars and cabs. He reached the main precinct rather quickly, and as he was taking of his helmet the doors opened and a young woman ran towards him, cup of coffee in hand and a scow on her face.

"Dude!" She stopped next to him, fury on her face as she gave him the cup of coffee she had been holding. "What took you so long?"

"Sorry Ace," Nico apologized, taking a large gulp of the poorly made coffee before handing it back to her. "Got a little sidetracked last night."

The young woman relaxed instantly, giving the coffee back to Nico. "One of those nights huh?"

"You make it sound inappropriate." He grumbled, pinching his nose as he tipped the Styrofoam cup back. He would rather be eating that shit American's called pizza, but he needed to stay awake somehow. His father always kept him longer than intended, and being pulled though _Endiamesa _faster than the speed of light didn't help.

"I just say it like it is." Ace replied, taking the cup from Nico when he finished. "Now let's get going before Will takes away my scalpel."

Nico blinked at the forensic pathologist. "Wait, I'm not working with you?"

"Oh, you are," she replied, tugging on his jacket as she led him up the stairs. "But this is a big one, so Chief dickwad is placing one of the head detectives on the case with us." She then turned to face him with her million watt grin. "Silver lining, he's gay!"

"Why would that matter!?" Nico sputtered, ripping his arm out of Ace's hand.

"Just trying to help a bro out." She took his arm again, pulling him through the glass doors and into the busy lobby. "That and you really need to get laid."

Nico was sorely regretting coming out to the NYPD's top forensic pathologist and letting her in on his love life. I mean, Ace figuring out he was gay was unavoidable (she had figured it out before he did), but confiding in her about how badly he wanted to date was entirely his fault. She wouldn't leave him alone about it, and was constantly trying to hook him up with someone.

If he didn't love his step-sister so much he probably would have sent her straight to the fields of punishment.

While Nico had been silently fuming Ace had dragging him into the morgue. He squinted as the florescent lights light up the mostly white room, and when his eyes adjusted the first thing he noticed was a horribly mangled body lying on one of the tables, headlight casting an even brighter light over it, causing the blood and insides to glisten.

The second thing he notices was a horribly attractive male standing by said body with shaggy blond hair, crystal blue eyes, a surfer body and tan skin with a dusting of freckles across his nose. Right now that face was scrunched up in confusion, but that didn't stop Nico from blushing.

" 'Sup Will-bro?" Ace greeted, pulling her choppy blond and black dyed hair in a short pony tail as she walked up to the table. The detective nodded in her general direction before going back into his thoughts. She readjusted her blood spattered lab coat, slapped on some latex gloves and threw a pair at Nico.

The Private Detective hadn't really been paying attention, so the gloves hit him square in the face before he caught them.

Ace just smirked, and then shot a hair tie at him after he put on the gloves.

"What's this for?" he asked, actually catching the object this time.

"As much as I love that fuzzy black mop of hair of yours, it's a little long to be left down."

Nico scowled, but did as she asked. He then stood in-between the two, which was at the head of the body (Nico wasn't entirely sure if there even was a head left), and then mysterious detective finally decided to look up and _holy Hades_ he was even better looking up close.

"Hey," he smiled, and Nico was pretty sure Ace was snickering. "You're Nico di Angelo, right?"

"I, yeah." Nico said slowly. "And you are…?"

"I'm Will Solace. I'll be working with you and Ace."

Nico (after staring for a little while) quickly shook his head. He would not get distracted by this Will Solace. "Well, I hope your capable of keeping up with me then."

Will huffed. "Of course I'm capable! I've been working with _Angelica_ for the past 5 years for god's sake!"

Ace's head popped up from where she had been making incisions on the corpse. She glared at Will, pointed at her then at him, and then drew her finger across her neck before going back to her cutting.

Ace hated it when people used her real name.

"Yeah, well, I'm a lot different than Ace." Nico replied, crossing his arms as Ace let out a triumphant 'ah ha!'

"So I've been told." Will crossed his own arms, but he never stopped smiling.

"I got it!" Ace grinned as she held up a bloody…something in front of the two detectives. "Cause of death right here bitches!"

"What even is it?" Will asked, leaning in to get a better look.

Even with all the blood Nico knew what it was. It was a shard of Stygian iron, which would explain why it looked like the victim's chest had been melted with from the inside out. He probably got stabbed right in the heart. The only problem was Hades didn't allow any Stygian iron into the mortal world, Nico being the only exception. So how…?

"Shard of metal." Ace supplied, setting it down in a metal tray with a clang. "Probably got stabbed in the heart with something made of metal, mangled pipe maybe, leaving the shard behind when our perp pulled it out. Animals did the rest."

Nico glanced over at Ace, whose lips were pulled in a tight frown. She knew what it was too, but it wasn't exactly like they could go spouting it out to the world. Mortals weren't supposed to know about _Zo_ or _Endiamesa _until death, Ace and Nico being the only exception.

Will looked skeptical. Ace was a good liar, but after being around her for so long you knew how to pick her apart. "If you say so…"

Ace nodded, jotted down some notes, and then ripped her bloody gloves off. "How about we go look at that case file now?"

Nico could feel the shadows flickering uneasily around him. This wasn't going to end well.

**A/N**

**Hey look! Another fanfiction!**

**So, basically what this is, is Nico is a private detective that deals with all the supernatural cases. He is still the son of Hades and can see and talk to the dead, but he's the only one that can. He usually solves his cases that way. **

**Ace is my oc, who've I've made Nico's step sister (she usually isn't). She knows about Nico's whole see the dead thing, and works with him on the cases he gets from the police. **

**Otherwise I think everything is pretty well explained (I'll go more into Will later). **


End file.
